Not a Love Triangle, But a Love Square
by Colette Bunny
Summary: AU: Tales of Symphonia in modern time! A love triangle between Lloyd, Colette, Zelos, and Sheena. Title recently changed. No T rated content in first few chapters.
1. A Departure & A Meeting

**Chapter 1-A Departure & A Meeting**

The rush of the wind came and blew a girl's pigtails back and forth. She giggled as the strands of golden hair tickled her neck and she swiftly brushed them away. She smiled again, trying to hide the fact that she was in pain, not physical pain, but the pain you feel when you realize that you wouldn't see the one you care about most for a long... long time. She put a balled up fist on her chest, as if to try and ease the pain away.

A young man gently look her hand and kissed it tenderly. "Hey, well my train's about to leave... so... I guess this is goodbye..."

The girl let her smile drop for the first time in the whole day. "Yeah... I'll really miss you Zelos."

"I'll miss you too, my little angel. But don't worry, the long distance thing is sure 'da work!" He laughed overly optimistic.

She smiled sweetly, "I believe you... with all my heart." She pressed down her yellow summer dress, the daisies on it seemed it just jump out of the fabric. It was the nicest outfit she had. Colette came from a very poor family so she didn't exactly have the most finest clothing. Her hair was brushed carefully and tied into two neat pigtails on each side of her head. Her favorite necklace was strung tightly around her neck. Probably the only thing of true value she had, the piece of jewelry was made of solid gold, and had a strange yet beautiful red jewel hanging down near the center. The design of it was so intricate and so mysterious.

The young girl wasn't very vain, but she wanted to look especially nice today. She blinked slowly, trying fruitlessly to stop the tears from leaking out of her sky blue eyes.

"Don't cry Colette. It'll be alright--" He paused and turned around. The roaring sound of the train blasted in his ears. The conductor was hurriedly ushering everyone aboard. Zelos knew it was time. He bent down to kiss her lightly, hoping that it would give her something to remember him by. Colette excepted the gesture, returning the kiss affectionately, savoring the moment.

The world seemed to stop around her, she couldn't hear the sound of people hurrying across the streets, or the conductor calling out orders. She was just alone in her own little magical world.

Zelos ended it sooner than she would have liked. Pulling back, he didn't miss the lost look filtering through her crystal blue eyes. He sighed.

The man grabbed his suitcases, his long red hair flowing in the wind, and scurried through the train entrance.

Colette's heart sank. Even though he was only out of her sight for a moment, she already started to feel terrible.

Zelos' head poked out of the window and he laughed in a very carefree way. "Goodbye Colette!" He waved as the train started to move away.

Colette waved back furiously until the bright red train was nothing more than a small dot in the distance. "Z-Zelos... I love you!"  
But he was already too far away to hear.

-----------------------------------------

The blonde haired girl walked alone in the busy streets with her head drooped down, so many thoughts were coming to her mind at once.

_But... it was meant to be... he had business to take care of... but… and... I wish he would have stayed. _Her eyes lit up, a new thought racing to her mind like a jackrabbit.

_What business...? He never told me. _She instinctively shook her head. _It doesn't matter. What matters is that... he's gone..._

-----------------------------------------

"Now wasn't that a long trip, eh Genis?"

"Um... yes sir," came the reply of a small boy.

A tall young man, probably at the age of seventeen stepped out of a bus and into the bright morning sun. He stretched slowly and sighed. "Jeez, I'm hungry. Let's go get a bite to eat." He wore a fancy black suit and his hair was neatly combed, showing he was truly from a family of wealth.

A petite boy stood beside him, a peculiar-looking youngster with long white hair, khaki pants, and a dark green vest. "Sir, is that the _first_ thing you think of whenever you step out of _any_ door?" He couldn't help but show a bit of impudence towards his employer.

"Yep," he replied bluntly, and yet very proudly. "Come on, let's go!" The hazel-haired man ran off without another word.

"Ah! Wait for me!" The small boy couldn't help but fall far behind with his short legs, his heart pumped wildly against his chest with just a short run. "You know you can run faster than me! So just wait!"

Of course, the boy's master was too set on getting a meal to fill his rumbling belly than to listen to a measly plea of help.

The young man zoomed across the streets, nearly running into nearby residence over a dozen times. The thought never came to him that he couldn't just keep running around like a maniac the whole time without any accidents. Before long, he collided face first into a young girl.

First came a loud squeak of surprise, then the thud of two bodies hitting the ground, and finally the sound of a hard, metal-like substance clanging the concrete floor.

The first to get up was the male victim. He groaned sadly and offered a helping hand to the girl. "Um... I'm sorry miss."

The girl accepted his help and unhurriedly stood up. She sighed as she brushed the dirt off her dress. Her expression changed dramatically as she looked up at him. "No, no, it's perfectly fine. It was my fault that I wasn't watching where I was going." She did a fake little giggle and her eyes sparkled with pure innocence. "I'm sorry. And um... I have to go. I just realized that my parents are going to be worried if I don't get back soon." She silently hurried off.

He turned around and noticed a necklace laying on the ground. "Hey... wait! Your necklace!" He called to her as he lunged down, grabbed the necklace and chased after her.

Sadly, he noticed all too well that she had already left on the bus home. The man scurried towards a nearby woman. "Where does that bus lead to?"

"Iselia Street, about a few miles away." The woman mumbled absent mindedly, completely absorbed into newspaper before her eyes.

A young child approached them, panting wildly. "S-sir... w-what... are you going to do... n...now...?" He fell onto the floor in a heap.

"I'm going to look for the nearest bus stop to get to Iselia Street."

"That's not a good idea lad. That's about four miles away." The older woman mumbled again, flipping the pages of the newspaper.

"Too late." Genis sighed as he pointed at the figure already starting to run far, far away...


	2. A New Friend

_Author's Notes: Hi everyone thanks for reading. Um… I got the idea for this fan fiction from this dream I had and this Chinese television show I watched many years ago (Somehow, I started to think about it again). I think it's kind of funny that most of the characters are family. _

_I'm trying really hard to put all the characters in this and give them an important role. Um… I'm trying, but… it may not flow that well and get off topic if I do so… sorry if I don't._

_There's no T-rated content yet. So… I guess in the first few chapters its rated K._

_And thanks to bobtheinsaneGREENcrayon for her help._

**_Please review!! I write fan fiction for audience, it gives me good moral support._**

_You now, this is the first 'Author Notes' I've ever written. _

_Okay, sorry for my rambling. Enjoy!_

* * *

**Chapter 2-A New Friend**

"Welcome home," a voice greeted Colette as she walked inside the home.

It was a very small house, so small it might even be considered a shack. Although the family worked extremely hard to make the house have a neat and tidy environment, dust still made a thick lining across the floors and walls. A few petite cracks placed themselves on the walls and the whole house seemed to be breaking down. Even the house itself was fairly small. It consisted of two small rooms (One for Colette's mother and uncle, and the other for her two sisters and herself), a bathroom, and a larger room that was used as both the dining room and living room, and one more room for the kitchen.

She looked around to see a young woman with strangely silver hair and eyes brimming with wisdom. She wore a plain blue dress and a white apron on top of that. The young woman had been reading a book, so she set it down carefully and took off her reading glasses to give a proper welcome to her daughter.

The blonde girl nodded and chimed, "Thank you mother!" She walked up to her mother and gave her a hug, but then paused. "Um… I'm going to go to my room now." A glum face spread across her face.

As she was turning to go, a gentle hand stopped her by pulling her back. Colette turned around to see a man with spiky maroon hair and a brown T-shirt. "Oh, hello Uncle Kratos."

"I know it may seem hard," he said in his deep, gruff voice. "But there comes a time when one has to move on."

"Y-yes… I know," she replied solemnly.

She ambled towards a nearby door.

Colette took a seat on her bed and looked out the window. The sky was a gorgeous blue and clouds danced to the sunshine.

_How could I be this depressed on a day like this? _The girl thought with disbelief. But then the memories of Zelos returned to her_. His long hair, his wonderful smile, his…_ _No… I can't linger on the past. I have to look towards the future, not for my sake… but for everyone's. They'll be so worried if they see me like this. _She slowly arose her bed and walked towards the mirror. She smiled, trying to make it look as realistic as possible. But what she saw in her reflection wasn't a real smile, it was a hollow one, it meant nothing. _Why can't I do it? I could always smile perfectly even when I was really sad._

She paused and looked at herself deeply for a moment. She knew what she needed.

_I need something to make me smile for real. Something or someone to fill this emptiness inside my heart…_

* * *

Lloyd fell on a heap on the floor and panted wildly. "W…w-we finally… m-made it…"  
"_We?_" came the agitated reply. "_I_ just waited for the next bus stop, which is what you should have done! Plus, you missed the bus stop and had to run _all_ the way to Iselia Street on your own, do you know how far away that is? An extra _seven miles _from the bus stop!" Genis rolled his eyes. "_At least_ you're in good shape." 

"So, where does she live?" Ignoring his butler's complaints, the young man got up and dusted himself off.

Genis sighed, "You don't even know _that much_?" He turned around. "There's only one house here." He pointed at a small building a block away from them.

Lloyd paused. "Eh… huh? Where? I don't see a house."

"Jeez, are you _that_ stupid? That undersized building over there!"  
His eyes finally met with the structure. "No way, it's so tiny…"

"Well, not everyone's as rich as you sir."

He scratched his head for a moment; still a little confused, but then just shrugged. "Come Genis, let's go."

The pair finally reached the house and Lloyd nodded on the door. Surprisingly, an answer didn't come from inside the house, but from behind the two.

"Um… hey," a girl's voice uncertainly greeted them.

Lloyd and Genis jumped around in surprise, almost running into each other.

"Eh…" she paused, "So, you need something?"

The boys started to settle down for a moment and then looked at the one who greeted them. She was a young lady, probably around the age of nineteen. She wore a purple sweater and green shorts. She held a brown paper bag full of groceries. Her hair was black and pinned back messily.

"Well," Lloyd began, "Does a girl with long blonde hair live here? She dropped her necklace and I wanted to return it to her." He pulled out the gold jewelry from his pocket and showed it to her. It glimmered in the sunshine.

"Yeah, that's Colette's alright."

_Colette…_

"I'll go get her, she's my sister." the black haired girl opened the creaky door and stepped inside.

Lloyd's eyes widened, his confusion had rose into an even higher level. _They don't even lock their door? _He stepped closer to the door and examined it carefully. _They don't even have a lock._

"That was pretty nice of you to bring it back for her. Are you Colette's boyfriend? I'm probably the only one in the family who hasn't met him."

"Boyfriend…? Um… no, I just met her…" He didn't know why, but at that moment, his heart sank.

She shrugged. "Make yourself at home," she motioned with her hand for them to come in.

The two stepped inside and _once again_ Lloyd's eyes widened. The size of the house was one thing, but the plain, if not old look… it was just shocking to Lloyd who was only used to large and fancy mansions.

"Yeah, I know. Our house is small, but we call it 'home'." The girl smiled at Lloyd merrily, then she set down her groceries on the table. She started to walk towards a nearby door but then stopped and turned around. "Oh, one more thing." The girl paused and although she tried her best to hide it, she blushed. "My name's Sheena."

* * *

Sheena opened the door, closed it, and walked inside. "Colette, there's a guy outside waiting for you." 

Colette hurriedly looked away from the mirror and nodded, "Thanks Sheena and welcome home."

"Thanks."

She walked past her sister and took a deep, _Okay… smile…_ Colette froze in her tracks as she entered the living room. _It's him, the guy I met earlier today. _  
"Hi…I'm Colette," she giggled. "I see you've already met my family."

"Uh… yeah." Lloyd nodded and looked at the group assembled around him. _These are the creepiest people I've ever seen! That old guy acts as if he knows everything and that pink-haired girl who just walked in is so silent it's as if she's mute. _He looked down at the sandwich he was given. _And worst of all, that lady's cooking is terrible…_

Colette smiled and then realized with glee that she did it. She smiled and got the pure feeling of joy on the inside, the incredible feeling you get when you smile for real.

Lloyd got up from his chair as if he had just been freed a wild animal's grasp. "Here, you dropped this. Oh, yeah… and I'm Lloyd." He handed the necklace to the girl.

"Th…thank you. I can't believe I had forgotten about this…" She took the necklace and clipped it around her neck. "Um… do you want to come to my room and talk? Well… it's not really _my own_ room."

By now, Lloyd was used to the strangeness of this family so he just grinned and nodded.

_Don't leave me alone here…_ Genis thought miserably to himself.

The two walked together into the room as Sheena walked out holding a small suitcase, a serious look plastered on her face. "I know this is sudden, but I want to go on a trip."

Raine turned to Sheena, arms crossed, and asked, "And where would you get the money for the trip?"

"I've been saving up. I've realized today that the only time I go out is when I need to go grocery shopping. I feel confined. Colette goes out all the time with her boyfriend."

"Her boyfriend left today." Presea said.

Sheena growled, "How come I don't know anything? I seem to always miss everything. I missed the day we got this house, when we adopted Presea, and that _one_ night when Colette's boyfriend came over for dinner!"

Raine sighed. "You can go if you want…"

Sheena paused. "Huh…?" She wasn't exactly expecting them to agree this easily.

"If you have the money, you can go, although this family would need that more."  
"Um… okay, thanks…" she mumbled, still in a state of shock. "Well… um… bye guys…" she slowly walked out the door, trying to take in what happened.

Kratos turned to woman of the house, "Why did you let her go so easily? You didn't even ask her _where_ she was going."

She closed her eyes for a moment, "I don't know… but for a split second… something inside me told me that it was meant to be…"

"Tell me about your family." Lloyd smiled as he and Colette sat side-by-side together on the bed.

The sun seemed to rise higher than ever before, lighting the room with its fluorescent light.

"Okay! Well, there's my mother, Raine; my uncle, Kratos; my little sister, Presea; and my older sister, Sheena. Which you've all met already."

"Wow, big family you got. So… what about your dad?"

"Oh… um… well, he passed away when I was little… I've never even met him." Her face became cheerless.

"I-I'm sorry, s-so…" Lloyd panicked, trying to change the subject.

"It's alright," Colette smiled. "I'm usually the one to apologize." She giggled innocently.

"Okay, so I'm wondering about your mom and Pre… Presea, right?"  
She nodded.

"Why are their hair pink and silver?"  
"It's a mystery. My mom said she was born like that. I remember I asked that same question when she was first adopted. We all were adopted because father died right after he married mother. She felt… very lonely, that's also why Uncle Kratos came to live with us."

"Um… I lost my father too." Lloyd whispered.

"I'm sorry to hear that."  
"It's okay… but um… I heard you have a boyfriend." He froze. _Why did I say that? It just slipped out…_

"Oh… yeah, he left today. He said he had some business to take care of, but I'm not sure when he'll be back."

Once again, Lloyd felt that strange feeling. Except this time, his heart didn't sink, he felt… he couldn't quite grasp the odd feeling he was having… what was it?

_Jealousy? No, why would I be jealous?_

Words slipped out of his mouth again, "If you really love him, you should go visit him."

"Yes… I would but I don't have the money."

"I do."

Colette looked up, astonishment brimming on her face. "What…?"

"I _said_ I have the money for the trip."

"But… you'd buy me the tickets…? I mean… we just met."

"Yeah I know that."

The girl didn't know what to say, she just sat there, staring straight ahead. "Wow… thank you so much…" was all she had to say.

"Mother," Colette began, "May I go visit Zelos?"  
Raine stopped cleaning the table and put down her rag. She sighed under her breath, "So many trips…"

"Colette… may I come?" came a soft voice.

The blonde girl looked down at her little sister.

"Um… if it's alright with Lloyd and Mother."

"It's fine with me," Lloyd agreed immediately.

"I guess it's alright with me too," Raine agreed slowly.

"Thank you Mother." Colette giggled and gripped her back tightly. "Come one everyone!" She skipped happily out the door, followed by her sister and her new friend.


End file.
